Conventionally, a terminal device that can connect to a plurality of networks is known. For example, in recent years, mobile communication terminals such as smart phones which can connect to a third-generation mobile communication network (hereinafter referred to as “3G network”) and a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) have become widely used.
For example, such a terminal device connects to a network selected by a user or connects to a network automatically selected according to a radio wave condition among a plurality of networks. For example, the terminal device receives image data, moving image data, and sound data through the connected network and outputs (displays) an image or a moving image on a screen or outputs sound on the basis of the received data.
As the computer technology advances, the processing capacity of terminal devices is gradually increased. Therefore, for example, the terminal devices can easily display high quality image and moving image and output high quality sound. As the quality of contents improves, the amount of data of the contents increases.
On the other hand, the communication speed (transmission rate) of packet communication and the fee system may be different for each network to which the terminal device can connect. For example, the communication speed of the 3G network is generally lower than that of the wireless LAN. The fee system of the 3G network is generally a pay-as-you-go system. On the other hand, the fee system of the wireless LAN is generally a flat-rate system. In some wireless LANs, the communication fee is free.
When there are different communication speeds and different fee systems, if the terminal device receives data through a network having a higher communication speed, the time required to receive data is shortened. When the terminal device receives data through a network where the fee system is the flat-rate system or the communication fee is free, a communication fee according to the amount of received data is not charged to a user. In other words, these networks are preferable for the user. When the terminal device can connect to a plurality of networks where the fee system is the pay-as-you-go system, it is preferable for the user that the terminal device receives data through a network where the communication fee charged per amount of data is lower.
However, there is a case in which the terminal device cannot connect to a network preferable to the user depending on, for example, place, time, radio wave condition, and the like. In this case, the terminal device has to receive data through a network whose communication speed is lower or a network whose communication fee charged according to the amount of communication is higher.
Regarding the above problem, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique in which a wireless communication terminal determines whether the type of used communication service is the flat-rate system or the pay-as-you-go system, and when the type is the pay-as-you-go system, the wireless communication terminal can select low quality image data from high quality image data which is image data with high resolution and low quality image data which is image data with low resolution and download the low quality image data. In other words, in the technique described in Patent Literature 1, when the type of the communication service is the pay-as-you-go system, image data having a smaller amount of data is downloaded.